The present invention relates to improvements in machines for the production of wrapped rod-like fillers which consist of fibrous material, particularly tobacco or filaments made of a synthetic plastic substance. More particularly, the invention relates to apparatus for trimming or clipping elongated rods of the type wherein a tubular wrapper made of cigarette paper, imitation cork, reconstituted tobacco, tobacco leaves or the like surrounds a rod-like filler consisting of comminuted tobacco or filter material. Still more particularly, the invention relates to apparatus for preventing the normally defective leader of a wrapped filler of tobacco or filter material from reaching the customary cutoff which subdivides the rod into plain cigarettes, cigarillos or cigars or into filter rod sections of unit length or multiple unit length. For the sake of simplicity, the invention will be described in connection with the making and processing of filter rod sections; however, the invention can be utilized with equal advantage in connection with the making of rod sections wherein a tubular wrapper surrounds a rod-like tobacco filler.
A machine for the making of filter rod sections has means for producing a continuous rod wherein a rod-like filler of filamentary material is surrounded by a tubular wrapper, a conveyor (e.g., the customary garniture) which advances the rod beyond the producing means, and a cutoff which severs the rod at predetermined intervals to convert it into a succession of filter rod sections of unit length or multiple unit length, normally six times unit length. When the machine is started, the leader of a fresh rod is often defective for a variety of reasons. For example, the seam of the wrapper is likely to be open, some of the filaments may extend beyond the front end of the wrapper, the front side of the rod is not smooth, or the leader is bent so that it is unlikely to find its way into the cutoff. Therefore, it is customary to separate the leader from the next-following portion of a fresh filter rod to thus insure that the cutoff begins to subdivide that portion of the fresh rod which exhibits all desirable characteristics as regards its appearance, resistance to the flow of tobacco smoke, diameter and/or others.
In presently known filter rod making machines, an attendant observes the leader of a fresh filter rod and directs it into a collecting receptacle. When the attendant assumes that the characteristics of the fresh rod are satisfactory, the leader is separated and the foremost part of the next-following portion (i.e., the new leader) of the fresh rod is permitted or caused to enter the cutoff. Separation of the leader from the next-following portion of the fresh rod is effected by breaking off or by manually severing the rod. Such operation is time-consuming because an attendant must be stationed at the filter rod making machine whenever the machine is started and, moreover, the attendant must be skilled as well as agile in order to insure proper separation of the leader of a rapidly advancing rod as well as the introduction of the new leader into the cutoff. If the new leader misses the inlet of the cutoff or bypasses the guide which cooperates with the cutoff, the rod is likely to break or buckle upstream of the cutoff so that the entire machine must be arrested with attendant losses in output. Such losses arise not only as a result of stoppage of the machine but also because the leader of the rod which is being produced when the machine is started anew must be separated again since it is likely to be defective for one or more of the aforementioned reasons.